Ah, yes, a post-Bush era Bushism, God bless him!
While Bush’s speech was mostly eloquent and free of the language gaffes he admits he is famous for, he said he regretted appearing in front of a “Mission Impossible” sign during a televised address in 2003. The controversial banner referring to the U.S. mission in Iraq, actually said “Mission Accomplished.”
Last Thursday, about 300 protesters in Montreal brought on the effigy-burning and shoe-throwing, like it was old times again:
President Bush gave an hour-and-a-half speech Wednesday night at the Wilderness Resort and Convention Center in Sevierville (Hat tip: Brutally Honest):
“Every day in the White House was a joyous day for me,” the 43rd president said. “I miss being commander and chief of our military the most. You know you live in an amazing country when we have servicemen that continually volunteer to serve their country in the face of danger. I believe we have an obligation to give our troops all the support they need to accomplish their missions.”
The former president said he still has faith that conflicts in the Middle East can eventually be resolved.
Read the rest of this entry »
From President Obama’s UN speech today:
I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust. A part of this was due to misperceptions and misinformation about my country. Part of this was due to opposition to specific policies and a belief on, on certain critical issues, America had acted unilaterally without regard for the interests of others.
And this is has fed an almost reflexive anti-Americanism which, too often, has served as an excuse for collective inaction.
~~~ After all, it is easy to walk up to this podium and point fingers and stoke divisions. Nothing is easier than blaming others for our troubles and absolving ourselves of responsibility for our choices and our actions. Anybody can do that.
Like blaming the previous Administration for the state of affairs today and giving validity to misperceptions? Good grief!
John Bolton:
Read the rest of this entry »
History-like hindsight-is supposed to be 20:20, but the deliberate partisan, political divide regarding the invasion of Iraq makes that hard.
It’s not a new phenomenon. Long ago it was said that the true story of a war can’t be told until the last of its veterans has passed away, and only a few months ago did the last World War One veteran go to his great reward. For decades after the Civil War (and some would argue even today) the debate raged on, and the healing of Southern Reconstruction didn’t really start culturally until the unity of the Spanish-American War turned foes into brothers-in-arms.
Conspiracy theories-often fueled by politics-still rage over the 911 attacks, the invasion of Iraq, whether or not Roosevelt deliberately allowed the Pearl Harbor attack to happen, whether or not the U.S. Navy knew the U.S.S. Maine had a boiler explosion and wasn’t sunk by a mine. People still think that the Lusitania was set on a suicide mission to get the United States into World War One. These myths will always remain, and it’s good that they do because they spark investigation and a search for understanding of these world changing events. The relationship between the 911 attacks and the invasion of Iraq is interesting in that both have a long list of conspiracy theories attacked to each, and yet the abstract, more indirect relationship between the two events is dismissed out of hand. To that end, even if one believes the relationship between Iraq War and 911 attacks is a conspiracy theory, it’s worthwhile to examine if for no other reason than harvesting a better understanding. Read the rest of this entry »
The first Marine to be awarded the Medal of Honor since Vietnam has been honored with a Destroyer being named after him:
Streamers fly during the christening ceremony of the USS Jason Dunham, an Arleigh-Burke Class destroyer, Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, at Bath iron Works in Bath, Maine. The ship is named after the late Marine Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, of Scio, N.Y. Dunham, 22, of Scio, N.Y., who was mortally wounded as he saved his comrades that day, will be honored Saturday at the christening of the Navy’s newest destroyer, the USS Jason Dunham. The young corporal who threw his Kevlar helmet and his body onto the grenade became the first Marine since the Vietnam War to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)A local story on the occasion:
In a solemn ceremony punctuated by talk of courage, service and sacrifice, the mother of a Marine corporal on Saturday christened a warship honoring her son, who died after covering an exploding grenade to protect his comrades in Iraq.
After composing herself and taking a deep breath, Deb Dunham smashed a bottle of champagne over the bow of the 510-foot warship Jason Dunham, then held the bottle aloft before a cheering crowd of more than 1,500 people.
She was joined by the Marines who served with her son, by her husband, Dan Dunham, and their daughter Katelyn Dunham. Two other Dunham boys also were in the audience. Read the rest of this entry »
What does a Missouri Car Dealer and precedented presidential visit to Africa have in common?
Time for a little CNN smackdown.
Don Lemon seems to want to perpetuate the worldwide Obama euphoria and media-generated image-making. However…
Watch CNN’s Lemon get his Obama tire deflated:
Transcript:
DON LEMON, ANCHOR CNN NEWSROOM: Nkepile, I was watching you yesterday on the “Situation Room” with Wolf Blitzer when President Obama was arriving, and they were doing the dancing, and all of the people who were running up to him. For a western leader, I know when presidents come over there, they are usually warmly received. But for a western leader, have you ever seen anything like this? Is this unprecedented?
NKEPILE MABUSE, CORRESPONDENT: It’s not unprecedented. When President Bush was here, you will remember, in February, there were people who were drumming, there were dances, and President Bush joined some of them. So, it’s not unprecedented. This is a truly African welcome that is given to anybody whether they are from Africa or anywhere else in the world, Don.
LEMON: So, they welcome everyone. It doesn’t matter. That’s just part of how the people do it, right?
MABUSE: Indeed, Don.
Here’s Wizbang:
As President Obama makes his way to Africa with some forceful policy goals Reuters is asking if Obama is Africa’s savior. Umm, no. That would be George W. Bush.
I posted on George Bush’s contribution to the continent of Africa.
Have gun, will travel….or is it the other way around? (Hat tip: Ed Rasimus)
Andy McCarthy demolished White House Official Austin Goolsbee’s interview this morning:
I caught a panel on which Obama economic advisor Austin Goolsbee conceded that the administration had previously predicted unemployment would top out at around 8%, that it was now up to 9.4%, and that double-digit unemployment was a distinct possibility in the near future. Goolsbee didn’t resort to the administrations’s blather about “saving or creating jobs,” but he did repeat its fustian about how last month’s loss of 345,000 jobs (resulting in a half percentage point jump in the jobless rate) is somehow good news because it beat predictions (I don’t recall him saying whose) of even more dire loss numbers. It made me wonder why, if those predictions either existed or were serious, the Obama administration would have previously predicted that unemployment would top out at 8%?
Goolsbee then laughably intimated that the steep jump in the jobless rate could be attributable to hopeful signs that the economy is improving. Huh? See if you can follow this: he says flashes of hope that we are on the verge of a revival have purportedly caused previously uncounted jobless people to seek (but not find) work — that is, they waited out prosperous times, deciding to leap into the job hunt only when hundreds of thousands of heretofore gainfully employed people got pink-slipped and began competing for a declining pool of jobs.
Goolsbee wasn’t done with his idiocy. He does the typical Obama move….blame Bush:
We are only in this situation because somebody else kicked the can down the road, and that’s really an understatement. They shook up the can, they opened the can, and handed to us in our laps. Senator Shelby knows that to be true. When George Bush put money in to General Motors, almost explicitly with the purpose, how many dollars do they need to stay alive until January 20th, 2009? There was no commitment to restructuring, to making these viable enterprises of any kind.
The Senior White House economic advisor to President George W. Bush, Keith Hennessey, lays out the facts and shows that not only was Goolsbee’s accusations wrong but inflammatory. It’s a long and detailed post and I would recommend you go read it but here’s the summary: Read the rest of this entry »
Go figure that the one day Obama doesn’t talk about himself is during a D-Day tribute. Good for him, and us:
Over at Aarrggh there is a copy of an email sent to members of the Combined Joint Task Force 82, who are currently in Afghanistan, from the French:
To Combined Joint Task Force 82,
65 years ago, at 2h30 (French Local time), you jumped from hundreds of DAKOTAS in the dark skies over Normandie in order to liberate France and Europe.
That D-Day, you wrote the most glorious page of your history and the name of your Division is forever famous in France.
That D-Day, you and the allied forces met their rendezvous with destiny.
6 June 2009, Afghanistan; we are still brothers in arms.
We will never forget what you did on D-Day.
In the name of all the French soldiers embedded with CJTF-82, thank you for what you have done.
Today, in celebration of those events 65 years ago, we are “All Americans.”
Airborne!
Ltc Pierre V.
French LNO
And while Obama’s speech was nice, there is one that many people have not seen because of the death of Ronald Reagan that same day. President Bush gave one that brought the people out of their seats in 2004: Read the rest of this entry »
You are currently browsing the archives for the Bush 43 category.
There are currently 79,374 comments.
Oct - 3,057
